More specifically, this is about how I recovered from severe intolerance to chicken I had for about 20 years.
Since 2002 until just this week, I had avoided chicken because I had repeated episodes of severe food poisoning every time I encountered it. It began around 2001 when I made chicken broth and left it out to cool overnight (bad idea – always refrigerate).
In 2002 I ate a chicken sandwich with some fellow non-profit volunteers at Outback Steakhouse. As far as I know, no one got sick but me. That officially marked the end of me eating chicken. Any food that had even touched chicken or been cooked in the same oil that chicken had been cooked in would make me sick.
The episodes were severe, flu-like. Fever, body aches, bedridden, unable to eat much of anything. My stomach would not be triggered to vomit by the offending food. Instead, I absorbed it into my system. I ended up at my homeopath’s office with this trouble. He gave me Pyrogen 30c and Pyrogen 200c. Pyrogen is made from beef left out to fester with bacteria.
In 2003-04 it was at its worst. I got sick with extreme episodes that would take me 2 weeks to recover from. The worst episode happened when I was already sick with the flu. It took months for me to feel ‘normal’ again after that one.
I’ve only had one reaction like this to any other meat.
I thought of it as a hole in my immune system that would take time to patch up. But I had no plans to ever eat chicken again. It had burned me too severely too many times. I’d lost my taste for it entirely.
Reovery
Things changed after I found my life mate, Heather, in 2009. We’ve lived together since spring of 2010. March 2009 was the last time I had a full-blown episode of this kind of food poisoning (from another type of meat/grease).
Since then, my stomach has been triggered when I’ve encountered anything that I later suspected to be cross-contamination of my food with chicken. I would vomit and within a couple hours it would be out of my system and I’d be okay — the way it is normally supposed to go with food poisoning. I had a couple episodes of this between about 2011 and 2014 or so.
Love and support from Heather has helped tremendously.
The stomach is very involved with our feeling of nurturing and being nurtured. The immune system is very much influenced by our feeling of strength to fend off things that do not support our health as individuals. When we are emotionally healthier, our digestion and immunity function better.
Herbally, I’ve used a Reishi mushroom a lot (for up to several weeks at a time) over the last few years because I’ve also had seasonal (spring) allergies that indicated the need to modulate my immune system. Before that I used Ashwaghandha off-and-on. These are immune system modulators.
During the episodes of infection I’d also take Activated Charcoal to absorb as much of the offending matter from my GI tract as possible.
I also took Japanese Honeysuckle: Lonicera japonica, the kind of honeysuckle with the white flowers, because it was growing on my home property and was easy to harvest. Both the flowers and stem (vine) can be used, just as indicated in the TCM materia medica: https://www.americandragon.com/Individualherbsupdate/RenDongTeng.html
https://www.americandragon.com/Individualherbsupdate/JinYinHua.html
Homeopathically, I made a mother tincture of dodgy chicken years ago in anticipation of making a remedy. However, the Pyrogen 30c and 200c worked well enough that there was no need for it. I’ve not had to use the Pyrogen remedy since at least 2009. It helped during recovery from infection, but also helped build up some tolerance.
During these years I was very careful about cross-contamination and washed my hands immediately after having any contact with chicken (or other meats). In the last few months as my immunity gained greater strength I noticed greater confidence in making chicken brother for my older dog. I’d get my hands fully involved, whereas before I’d just use utensils.
Recovery Complete: November 2023
A couple days after Thanksgiving I had a dream of eating two chicken patties (like you’d have on a chicken sandwich). There was no worry or issue and in the dream it felt completely normal and appropriate.
So I made chicken stock from a leftover carcass of a roasted chicken my wife had eaten. I boiled it for a few hours, then poured it into a quart jar and put it in the fridge overnight. I then scooped the fat that had risen to the top and used the hardened, gelatinous stock to make a soup with vegetables, sage, and bay leaf. It was delicious and I had zero problems.
This is one example of how recovery can happen naturally, in time and with completely natural remedies.
Not once did I ever use pharmaceutical anti-biotics!
This is very key. Anti-biotics use would have really messed up my gut flora and immune system. They would have made full recovery much harder if not impossible.
The only anti-infection agents I needed were herbal and homeopathic.
The only immune system toners I needed were also natural.
I haven’t had a single dose of Rx antibiotics since I was about 17 (about 36 years as of this article).
Now let me be very blunt
If your herbalist runs to the MD for antibiotics when they get sick or says that such pharmaceutical antibiotics are best in those situations … YOU NEED A BETTER HERBALIST!
A real herbalist knows that Mother Nature has multiple remedies for anything that can ail the human being (or any other animal). It just takes time and study to find them.
I have learned from all my bad experiences so that I can better help family, friends — and you!
I wish you healing and happiness this holiday season.